The whole driver for everybody to build super weapons was to deal with a asteroid that was going to pretty much end all life on Strangereal anyways, which is a good a reason as any
It'd have to--as it stands, Strangereal wars are incredibly expensive, but way less costly to human lives (and there are way fewer, abnormally large countries). With the exception of Belka, which managed to mastermind a whole new world war anyway, countries--or their civil infrastructure--tend to recover very quickly from wars. There are no devastating Bengali or North Korean famines, just periodic economic booms and busts (which we have in "peacetime" on Earth). Which might be why everyone's ready to fight another expensive war in a few years anyway.
One interesting thing about Strangereal wars is that so many of the lost planes are old as fuck. Like yes, these countries throw away thousands of planes, but something like 70% of them are planes so old they belong in Nam.
The whole driver for everybody to build super weapons was to deal with a asteroid that was going to pretty much end all life on Strangereal anyways, which is a good a reason as any
It'd have to--as it stands, Strangereal wars are incredibly expensive, but way less costly to human lives (and there are way fewer, abnormally large countries). With the exception of Belka, which managed to mastermind a whole new world war anyway, countries--or their civil infrastructure--tend to recover very quickly from wars. There are no devastating Bengali or North Korean famines, just periodic economic booms and busts (which we have in "peacetime" on Earth). Which might be why everyone's ready to fight another expensive war in a few years anyway.
One interesting thing about Strangereal wars is that so many of the lost planes are old as fuck. Like yes, these countries throw away thousands of planes, but something like 70% of them are planes so old they belong in Nam.
Honestly it's not a bad reflection of how other countries operate air forces. More than a dozen countries still operate the MiG-21, which was first deployed sixty years ago, including India, North Korea, and Syria (which all have access to more modern aircraft too). The A-10 is exclusively operated by the United States, and is almost 50 years old. Compared to World War II, where an aircraft might be proposed, designed, built and undergo trials in a year (and might be made obsolete 2 or 3 years later), jet-powered combat aircraft are just so expensive--and generally so flexible with upgrade packages that can end up costing more than the plane did ultimately--that a lot of countries use them forever (and don't bother upgrading when they have to replace them). Taiwan still flies the Northrop F-5, which first flew in the 1950s (and China flies old planes too).
It's a little bit odder that both Osea and Yuktobania, as the world superpowers, occasionally field them too, though a lot of that is for the player's use/benefit, and they use more modern stuff by comparison.
(I'm not mentioning strategic bombers like the B-52 or Tu-95 because you don't actually fly those in the game.)
The whole driver for everybody to build super weapons was to deal with a asteroid that was going to pretty much end all life on Strangereal anyways, which is a good a reason as any
It'd have to--as it stands, Strangereal wars are incredibly expensive, but way less costly to human lives (and there are way fewer, abnormally large countries). With the exception of Belka, which managed to mastermind a whole new world war anyway, countries--or their civil infrastructure--tend to recover very quickly from wars. There are no devastating Bengali or North Korean famines, just periodic economic booms and busts (which we have in "peacetime" on Earth). Which might be why everyone's ready to fight another expensive war in a few years anyway.
One interesting thing about Strangereal wars is that so many of the lost planes are old as fuck. Like yes, these countries throw away thousands of planes, but something like 70% of them are planes so old they belong in Nam.
Honestly it's not a bad reflection of how other countries operate air forces. More than a dozen countries still operate the MiG-21, which was first deployed sixty years ago, including India, North Korea, and Syria (which all have access to more modern aircraft too). The A-10 is exclusively operated by the United States, and is almost 50 years old. Compared to World War II, where an aircraft might be proposed, designed, built and undergo trials in a year (and might be made obsolete 2 or 3 years later), jet-powered combat aircraft are just so expensive--and generally so flexible with upgrade packages that can end up costing more than the plane did ultimately--that a lot of countries use them forever (and don't bother upgrading when they have to replace them). Taiwan still flies the Northrop F-5, which first flew in the 1950s (and China flies old planes too).
It's a little bit odder that both Osea and Yuktobania, as the world superpowers, occasionally field them too, though a lot of that is for the player's use/benefit, and they use more modern stuff by comparison.
(I'm not mentioning strategic bombers like the B-52 or Tu-95 because you don't actually fly those in the game.)
Yeah, I was thinking about making the comparison to the Strangereal airforces being fusions of first world and second world airforces. It's really standards for countries without a military-industrial complex to buy out the aging fighter forces of the ones that do as the military-industrial complex countries replace their old generation craft with the latest and greatest. It's just strange in Ace Combat because every country fields both the Nam-era fighters as well as the super high-tech or experimental fighters. Like Erusea was fielding F-4s alongside SU-37s. In the same sorties even. The ISAF was fielding similarly old planes alongside the F-22.
The whole driver for everybody to build super weapons was to deal with a asteroid that was going to pretty much end all life on Strangereal anyways, which is a good a reason as any
It'd have to--as it stands, Strangereal wars are incredibly expensive, but way less costly to human lives (and there are way fewer, abnormally large countries). With the exception of Belka, which managed to mastermind a whole new world war anyway, countries--or their civil infrastructure--tend to recover very quickly from wars. There are no devastating Bengali or North Korean famines, just periodic economic booms and busts (which we have in "peacetime" on Earth). Which might be why everyone's ready to fight another expensive war in a few years anyway.
One interesting thing about Strangereal wars is that so many of the lost planes are old as fuck. Like yes, these countries throw away thousands of planes, but something like 70% of them are planes so old they belong in Nam.
Honestly it's not a bad reflection of how other countries operate air forces. More than a dozen countries still operate the MiG-21, which was first deployed sixty years ago, including India, North Korea, and Syria (which all have access to more modern aircraft too). The A-10 is exclusively operated by the United States, and is almost 50 years old. Compared to World War II, where an aircraft might be proposed, designed, built and undergo trials in a year (and might be made obsolete 2 or 3 years later), jet-powered combat aircraft are just so expensive--and generally so flexible with upgrade packages that can end up costing more than the plane did ultimately--that a lot of countries use them forever (and don't bother upgrading when they have to replace them). Taiwan still flies the Northrop F-5, which first flew in the 1950s (and China flies old planes too).
It's a little bit odder that both Osea and Yuktobania, as the world superpowers, occasionally field them too, though a lot of that is for the player's use/benefit, and they use more modern stuff by comparison.
(I'm not mentioning strategic bombers like the B-52 or Tu-95 because you don't actually fly those in the game.)
Yeah, I was thinking about making the comparison to the Strangereal airforces being fusions of first world and second world airforces. It's really standards for countries without a military-industrial complex to buy out the aging fighter forces of the ones that do as the military-industrial complex countries replace their old generation craft with the latest and greatest. It's just strange in Ace Combat because every country fields both the Nam-era fighters as well as the super high-tech or experimental fighters. Like Erusea was fielding F-4s alongside SU-37s. In the same sorties even. The ISAF was fielding similarly old planes alongside the F-22.
Despite being an obvious analog for the Soviet Union (without its 1991 collapse), Yuktobania flies large numbers of NATO aircraft, most obviously the F-15C. Osea operates a number of Warsaw Pact aircraft, including the Su-27 (in fact, Belka loves them too).
There's a really good reason that Namco never explains where these corporations or design bureaus are based out of in Strangereal, or how they license aircraft. For all intents and purposes, any individual model aircraft is probably "open source" and doesn't require a license to manufacture (it's just easier to buy them from Yuktobania or Osea-occupied South Belka). For all we know, the designs just come in on mysterious radio waves from a parallel universe and the denizens of Strangereal just copy them for their own use, not bothering to change the names.
It's also a plot point that Anaheim Electro- I mean, Grunder Industries in the later games can produce warplanes far more cheaply and efficiently than in our world.
+2
Johnny ChopsockyScootaloo! We have to cook!Grillin' HaysenburgersRegistered Userregular
I actually just did one of my favorite missions in AC5, the nerve gas neutralization. It's a triumph of the fluff actually distracting you from the mission itself, which is quite easy.
First of all, you very rarely deal with real world WMDs in Strangereal, so when you do, it's typically a big deal. You go up in a flight of modified Mirages to stop a Yuke nerve gas attack on a college town near the capital. You hear the civilian news reporting, your fighter command dealing with the alternate airport attack mission, and your wingmen stressing the urgency of stopping the gas as soon as possible.
Then the mission turns into the most radical action movie ever, as simple Ocean cops start chasing down the commandos, having a run and gun battle on the streets and highways. All you can do is provide occasional cannon support. The chatter from the police is amazing, you have your typical off duty guy trying to get to his kid's birthday, a guy who's so hyped about getting in on the action he brings his anti-tank rifle from home, the guys who are freaking out about having 9mm pistols against oncoming AH-64 attack helicopters. And again, 95% is just in your imagination as little models scoot around on a PS2 texture set.
And then, you come in as the big damn heroes, shooting down the choppers and chasing them between building.
I just can't think of a series that does this kind of immersion better, and it's usually different and unique on every level.
The final mission of Ace Combat 4 is still one of my all time great gaming moments.
I don't even know if I need the 'cheaper and more efficiently' plot point for it to be believable for me. We already build a lot of planes in the real world, most of them just get mothballed or sold to other countries who will eventually mothball them. If we had wars of the same scale and frequency in the real world I would expect similar levels of production and fielding of aircraft as we see in Strangereal.
If we had wars of the same scale and frequency in the real world I would expect similar levels of production and fielding of aircraft as we see in Strangereal.
Ironically it's super weapons and the threat of MAD that prevents wars of the same frequency and scale as Strangereal.
All this new activity in the thread made me think an AC Remastered was coming out, instead I come in to see people just trying to match Strangereal names to Earth names...
If we had wars of the same scale and frequency in the real world I would expect similar levels of production and fielding of aircraft as we see in Strangereal.
Ironically it's super weapons and the threat of MAD that prevents wars of the same frequency and scale as Strangereal.
Incredibly ironic. Cold Wars just aren't there and countries are more comfortable slugging it out and watching their troops and civilians grind each other into nothing the traditional way.
3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
0
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
All this new activity in the thread made me think an AC Remastered was coming out, instead I come in to see people just trying to match Strangereal names to Earth names...
All this new activity in the thread made me think an AC Remastered was coming out, instead I come in to see people just trying to match Strangereal names to Earth names...
F-16s are flying outside my window today and I reaaaaally want to go fly with the angels now.
The F-16s around me are the Green Mountain Boys. They're doing training flights or something similar. They share runways with the local airport here, and you can see their hangers from the terminal and sometimes see them taking off while you're waiting for your plane.
Yeah, F-16Cs here too. They're getting replaced with the F-35 soon, which I'm excited to see in person.
I keep forgetting you're not that far from where I grew up. One of my most vivid memories is still being woken up on 9/11 when the Green Mountain Boys took off louder than I'd ever heard before.
Yeah, F-16Cs here too. They're getting replaced with the F-35 soon, which I'm excited to see in person.
I keep forgetting you're not that far from where I grew up. One of my most vivid memories is still being woken up on 9/11 when the Green Mountain Boys took off louder than I'd ever heard before.
Yeah, they're nice enough to fly at low speed near the town, and they're already super loud. I can't imagine how loud they are when they're scrambled.
0
ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Yeah, F-16Cs here too. They're getting replaced with the F-35 soon, which I'm excited to see in person.
I keep forgetting you're not that far from where I grew up. One of my most vivid memories is still being woken up on 9/11 when the Green Mountain Boys took off louder than I'd ever heard before.
Yeah, they're nice enough to fly at low speed near the town, and they're already super loud. I can't imagine how loud they are when they're scrambled.
Crazy loud. It woke me up after "working late" (working until 10 and playing Asheron's Call until 3am). Normally they just fly around slow and casual until they're in the clear somewhere to do maneuvers. I still see them once in a while, but we're so far away that it's rare now.
This thread is making me want to play an AC again AND miss the AF bases being open around me at the same time. Seeing the SR-71 bleeding off speed and fuel was always a treat.
This thread is making me want to play an AC again AND miss the AF bases being open around me at the same time. Seeing the SR-71 bleeding off speed and fuel was always a treat.
Blackbirds get style points, but have to be one of the worst designed planes of that generation. How they didn't all explode on takeoff is a modern miracle.
+3
mastertheheroProfessional Video Editor & Book AuthorRegistered Userregular
This thread is making me want to play an AC again AND miss the AF bases being open around me at the same time. Seeing the SR-71 bleeding off speed and fuel was always a treat.
Blackbirds get style points, but have to be one of the worst designed planes of that generation. How they didn't all explode on takeoff is a modern miracle.
Worst designed is perhaps strong. It's more of an example of realizing you could make something, without stopping to realize if you should make something.
It's an incredible design for the ludicrously stupid thing that they made. The engines and associated systems alone were an engineering miracle for the day.
The design was 'bad' because it leaked fuel like a sieve, but it leaked fuel because the fuel was piped all throughout the aircraft as a coolant for the exterior, and it had to be designed for all the parts to expand in flight due to the extreme heat buildup from traveling so fast and they needed to design it so it didn't pop into pieces as the parts expanded. On the runway at normal surface temps the fittings didn't all fit together.
On the plus side, the jet fuel they were using was pretty much impossible to ignite at normal temperatures and pressure.
The design was 'bad' because it leaked fuel like a sieve, but it leaked fuel because the fuel was piped all throughout the aircraft as a coolant for the exterior, and it had to be designed for all the parts to expand in flight due to the extreme heat buildup from traveling so fast and they needed to design it so it didn't pop into pieces as the parts expanded. On the runway at normal surface temps the fittings didn't all fit together.
On the plus side, the jet fuel they were using was pretty much impossible to ignite at normal temperatures and pressure.
Yeah, the entire plane including the fuel itself was based on the idea of 'how do we make a military grade HOTOL space shuttle that can take reconnaissance photos from sub-orbit'? It may as well have been designed by fucking unicorns, it was so ludicrous...
Ah the A-12/SR-71, a brilliantly designed plane meant to replace the U-2 that might as well have lived by Ricky Bobby's motto. Ironic that the U-2 is still flying but we've retired the successor. At times I'm convinced if we still threw as many resources at making stuff go faster as we used to when we were still fiddling with the sound barrier, we'd have warp drives by now.
Anyway, anytime this comes up, I feel compelled to listen to this again:
I'll throw in a factoid I heard sometime in the distant past: The SR-71 needed to refuel as soon as it took off. When refueling, the tanker had to speed up to maximum speed, and the SR-71 had to slow down to near stalling speed, in order for the refueling to happen.
Yeah, I was sad to see the SR-71 go as well. Has there ever been any actual information (i.e. not rampant speculation in the pages of Popular Mechanics) about Aurora or whatever its successor was supposed to be called?
Yeah, I was sad to see the SR-71 go as well. Has there ever been any actual information (i.e. not rampant speculation in the pages of Popular Mechanics) about Aurora or whatever its successor was supposed to be called?
oh that plane that's basically obsolete now because of UAVs.
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
edited September 2017
I love the SR-71. No one knew it existed until it was obsolete.
Fun bit of trivia, Marvel comics had some CIA/FBI types show up to their offices to grill them about the X-Men's Blackbird since the Blackbird looked suspiciously like a jet that didn't exist. They wanted to know where they got their information about a jet that totally didn't exist, but if it did and it's a big if, where they might of heard about it. Marvel was all, "Uh. . . our imaginations?".
edit- Funny enough that isn't the first time something like that has happened. During WWII DC comics (or whatever they were called at the time) had a Superman comic involving Lex Luthor building an atom bomb. Since the Manhattan Project was still super-duper ultra top secret G-Men showed up to their office and put them to the question. Unlike with the Blackbird though DC got their inspiration from science journals that had talked about the far future potential of an atomic bomb by science types that were unaware it was already in production.
Axen on
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
I kind of love the fact that many engineers and flight enthusiasts hate the F-35 so much, they make a strong case that even a MIG-21 could take it so long as it could get within range. Stealth is apparently the only thing it has going for it, and stealth is one of those tech things that all it takes is one big detection breakthrough to render a whole generation useless.
I kind of love the fact that many engineers and flight enthusiasts hate the F-35 so much, they make a strong case that even a MIG-21 could take it so long as it could get within range. Stealth is apparently the only thing it has going for it, and stealth is one of those tech things that all it takes is one big detection breakthrough to render a whole generation useless.
It has a 15:1 kill ratio vs F-16s in it's most recent exercises, so it can't be that awful.
Personally, I'm hoping for more appearances of variable-sweep supersonic bombers, Tu-22M, the B-1, and the Tu-160 which are frequently absent from the game series. Granted, like the SR-71 they really don't fit the profile for usable aircraft, but seeing a massive Tu-160 really is an event (like their appearance in Ace Combat 4 and Tom Clancy's Ace Combat). The B-1B had a similarly awesome, and very short-lived, appearance in AC4.
While the Tu-22M isn't the most awe-inspiring of the three (that probably goes to the so-called "White Swan", which is somehow absurdly graceful-looking for what is heavier than a B-52), it deserves mention for being the first of the three designs to appear, remains in service and influenced the design of the other two--yet has never been in an AC series game as far as I know, which is kind of sad. There's something gorgeous about that somewhat more simplistic variable geometry that does it for me, and the last 40 years have seen it pressed into a variety of roles it was probably never seen in.
But I just really like a lot of variable-sweep designs. The F-14, the MiG-27, the Tornado F3, the Su-24 and so forth are all old favorites of mine too. I still get a laugh whenever I see a Su-24, I invariably think of it as a chibi/super-deformed Tu-22M because of the similar low-profile light grey color scheme used by the VVS.
Of the three, it's the one where you can look at it and clearly outline what ever part does--something designed for pure, mechanical utility that manages to look both simple and aesthetically pleasing. Plus of the three, it's probably the closest one to being flyable in-game give the size, the amount of public information and photography available for it (particularly the cockpit, which you can find documented in photographs for both the original and later "digital" versions) , and the generally very good handling characteristics at high and low speed...especially next to the original no-variable-sweep, hard-to-fly, zeerust-as-hell looking Tu-22 that proceeded it--you can see why the Soviets manufactured it for less than a third the time they did for the Tu-22M by comparison.
I kind of love the fact that many engineers and flight enthusiasts hate the F-35 so much, they make a strong case that even a MIG-21 could take it so long as it could get within range. Stealth is apparently the only thing it has going for it, and stealth is one of those tech things that all it takes is one big detection breakthrough to render a whole generation useless.
It has a 15:1 kill ratio vs F-16s in it's most recent exercises, so it can't be that awful.
It's more an issue of the overall cost and bloat of the program. Who knows, one day, it'll probably turn out to be a fine fighter. But considering how it was "too big to fail" it was kind of a given. And the argument remains that specialized aircraft were probably a better choice.
F-15s, F-22s, and F-18s can clear the skies in pretty much any combination. You have A-10s for CAS ground, and F-16s can do multirole. The only thing that's really needed is a dedicated stealth aircraft for deep penetration ground attacks against modern SAMs and fighters. And the F-35... was probably not the best solution to the problem considering it was supposed to be:
A cheap next gen upgrade to the F-16 multirole
Stealthy
A version for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines (gotta have that VTOL!)
And it was neither cheap, nor easy to mass produce, nor as stealthy as it could be given extra design burdens.
So yeah, who knows? We're sure as heck stuck with it now. I know people were laughing their heads off when the Air Force said the F-35 was going to totally replace the A-10. Yeah, they walked that one back. And they're still trying their best to kill that beautiful monster.
Posts
I read that as "middle earth inspired AC game" and got simultaneously confused and excited.
One interesting thing about Strangereal wars is that so many of the lost planes are old as fuck. Like yes, these countries throw away thousands of planes, but something like 70% of them are planes so old they belong in Nam.
Honestly it's not a bad reflection of how other countries operate air forces. More than a dozen countries still operate the MiG-21, which was first deployed sixty years ago, including India, North Korea, and Syria (which all have access to more modern aircraft too). The A-10 is exclusively operated by the United States, and is almost 50 years old. Compared to World War II, where an aircraft might be proposed, designed, built and undergo trials in a year (and might be made obsolete 2 or 3 years later), jet-powered combat aircraft are just so expensive--and generally so flexible with upgrade packages that can end up costing more than the plane did ultimately--that a lot of countries use them forever (and don't bother upgrading when they have to replace them). Taiwan still flies the Northrop F-5, which first flew in the 1950s (and China flies old planes too).
It's a little bit odder that both Osea and Yuktobania, as the world superpowers, occasionally field them too, though a lot of that is for the player's use/benefit, and they use more modern stuff by comparison.
(I'm not mentioning strategic bombers like the B-52 or Tu-95 because you don't actually fly those in the game.)
Yeah, I was thinking about making the comparison to the Strangereal airforces being fusions of first world and second world airforces. It's really standards for countries without a military-industrial complex to buy out the aging fighter forces of the ones that do as the military-industrial complex countries replace their old generation craft with the latest and greatest. It's just strange in Ace Combat because every country fields both the Nam-era fighters as well as the super high-tech or experimental fighters. Like Erusea was fielding F-4s alongside SU-37s. In the same sorties even. The ISAF was fielding similarly old planes alongside the F-22.
Despite being an obvious analog for the Soviet Union (without its 1991 collapse), Yuktobania flies large numbers of NATO aircraft, most obviously the F-15C. Osea operates a number of Warsaw Pact aircraft, including the Su-27 (in fact, Belka loves them too).
There's a really good reason that Namco never explains where these corporations or design bureaus are based out of in Strangereal, or how they license aircraft. For all intents and purposes, any individual model aircraft is probably "open source" and doesn't require a license to manufacture (it's just easier to buy them from Yuktobania or Osea-occupied South Belka). For all we know, the designs just come in on mysterious radio waves from a parallel universe and the denizens of Strangereal just copy them for their own use, not bothering to change the names.
The final mission of Ace Combat 4 is still one of my all time great gaming moments.
Steam ID XBL: JohnnyChopsocky PSN:Stud_Beefpile WiiU:JohnnyChopsocky
Ironically it's super weapons and the threat of MAD that prevents wars of the same frequency and scale as Strangereal.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Incredibly ironic. Cold Wars just aren't there and countries are more comfortable slugging it out and watching their troops and civilians grind each other into nothing the traditional way.
I was kind of glad to see that, too.
Well, we got a new gameplay trailer too!
Those who hate DFM, those who don't mind, and those who want precision control.
And him?
The F-16s around me are the Green Mountain Boys. They're doing training flights or something similar. They share runways with the local airport here, and you can see their hangers from the terminal and sometimes see them taking off while you're waiting for your plane.
I keep forgetting you're not that far from where I grew up. One of my most vivid memories is still being woken up on 9/11 when the Green Mountain Boys took off louder than I'd ever heard before.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Yeah, they're nice enough to fly at low speed near the town, and they're already super loud. I can't imagine how loud they are when they're scrambled.
Crazy loud. It woke me up after "working late" (working until 10 and playing Asheron's Call until 3am). Normally they just fly around slow and casual until they're in the clear somewhere to do maneuvers. I still see them once in a while, but we're so far away that it's rare now.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Steam: betsuni7
Blackbirds get style points, but have to be one of the worst designed planes of that generation. How they didn't all explode on takeoff is a modern miracle.
"His name was Butt53xx4nn1hlat0r. He was his wingman."
I am so excited for AC7.
https://www.thesilverninja.com
Worst designed is perhaps strong. It's more of an example of realizing you could make something, without stopping to realize if you should make something.
It's an incredible design for the ludicrously stupid thing that they made. The engines and associated systems alone were an engineering miracle for the day.
On the plus side, the jet fuel they were using was pretty much impossible to ignite at normal temperatures and pressure.
Yeah, the entire plane including the fuel itself was based on the idea of 'how do we make a military grade HOTOL space shuttle that can take reconnaissance photos from sub-orbit'? It may as well have been designed by fucking unicorns, it was so ludicrous...
Anyway, anytime this comes up, I feel compelled to listen to this again:
I'll throw in a factoid I heard sometime in the distant past: The SR-71 needed to refuel as soon as it took off. When refueling, the tanker had to speed up to maximum speed, and the SR-71 had to slow down to near stalling speed, in order for the refueling to happen.
oh that plane that's basically obsolete now because of UAVs.
wonder if it ever was actually real?
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Yeah, that'd make as much sense as anything.
Also the NASA SR-71 with the scramjet test engine where the drone used to be.
Steam: betsuni7
Fun bit of trivia, Marvel comics had some CIA/FBI types show up to their offices to grill them about the X-Men's Blackbird since the Blackbird looked suspiciously like a jet that didn't exist. They wanted to know where they got their information about a jet that totally didn't exist, but if it did and it's a big if, where they might of heard about it. Marvel was all, "Uh. . . our imaginations?".
edit- Funny enough that isn't the first time something like that has happened. During WWII DC comics (or whatever they were called at the time) had a Superman comic involving Lex Luthor building an atom bomb. Since the Manhattan Project was still super-duper ultra top secret G-Men showed up to their office and put them to the question. Unlike with the Blackbird though DC got their inspiration from science journals that had talked about the far future potential of an atomic bomb by science types that were unaware it was already in production.
It has a 15:1 kill ratio vs F-16s in it's most recent exercises, so it can't be that awful.
While the Tu-22M isn't the most awe-inspiring of the three (that probably goes to the so-called "White Swan", which is somehow absurdly graceful-looking for what is heavier than a B-52), it deserves mention for being the first of the three designs to appear, remains in service and influenced the design of the other two--yet has never been in an AC series game as far as I know, which is kind of sad. There's something gorgeous about that somewhat more simplistic variable geometry that does it for me, and the last 40 years have seen it pressed into a variety of roles it was probably never seen in.
But I just really like a lot of variable-sweep designs. The F-14, the MiG-27, the Tornado F3, the Su-24 and so forth are all old favorites of mine too. I still get a laugh whenever I see a Su-24, I invariably think of it as a chibi/super-deformed Tu-22M because of the similar low-profile light grey color scheme used by the VVS.
Of the three, it's the one where you can look at it and clearly outline what ever part does--something designed for pure, mechanical utility that manages to look both simple and aesthetically pleasing. Plus of the three, it's probably the closest one to being flyable in-game give the size, the amount of public information and photography available for it (particularly the cockpit, which you can find documented in photographs for both the original and later "digital" versions) , and the generally very good handling characteristics at high and low speed...especially next to the original no-variable-sweep, hard-to-fly, zeerust-as-hell looking Tu-22 that proceeded it--you can see why the Soviets manufactured it for less than a third the time they did for the Tu-22M by comparison.
It's more an issue of the overall cost and bloat of the program. Who knows, one day, it'll probably turn out to be a fine fighter. But considering how it was "too big to fail" it was kind of a given. And the argument remains that specialized aircraft were probably a better choice.
F-15s, F-22s, and F-18s can clear the skies in pretty much any combination. You have A-10s for CAS ground, and F-16s can do multirole. The only thing that's really needed is a dedicated stealth aircraft for deep penetration ground attacks against modern SAMs and fighters. And the F-35... was probably not the best solution to the problem considering it was supposed to be:
A cheap next gen upgrade to the F-16 multirole
Stealthy
A version for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines (gotta have that VTOL!)
And it was neither cheap, nor easy to mass produce, nor as stealthy as it could be given extra design burdens.
So yeah, who knows? We're sure as heck stuck with it now. I know people were laughing their heads off when the Air Force said the F-35 was going to totally replace the A-10. Yeah, they walked that one back. And they're still trying their best to kill that beautiful monster.